From issue: #30 In at least one dream!
Danit Ariel, 8 may 2026
Joel Hilska-Heikkinen’s image, To hide a butterfly, began as a “regular” print on the wall of a gallery, accompanied by instructions to viewers inviting them to try to hide the butterfly. The artist was surprised when visitors did indeed step outside the rules we are used to, making the piece look to me like a butterfly being hidden by its own wings, fluttering, alive.
Three poems were selected in response to Hilska-Heikkinen’s image, by poets Caitlin Lorraine Johnson, Manami Eguchi and Ruby Rosi. Each with a distinct style, the poems form individual relationships with the image, like three different friendships.
Rosi’s poem is political, asserting that to hide beings or actions is an erasure, a necessarily violent act. Hilska-Heikkinen’s image stands fragile in contrast, but then again, fragility and violence are terribly interconnected.
Johnson’s poem is short and stark. Like Rosi, the image and its title have inspired this poet to write of life and death. Not needing many words, and speaking to the materiality of wings, Johnson convinces me Hilska-Heikkinen’s image and the audience interaction with the materiality of the paper is a commentary on life and death or capture, power and control.
And I take a deep breath with Eguchi’s poem, which describes a feeling familiar to us all: thinking we’ve hidden something that others can see straight through. Next to this poem, Hilska-Heikkinen’s image feels soft once again, maybe even shy, but definitely still trying.
Biographies
Joel Hilska-Heikkinen (b. 1997) is a photographic artist working with lens-based practices, text, and sound. Their work deals with the act of seeing and its connections to the camera apparatus and language. Questions of how the more-than-human is represented through art and science, or how lived experience, use of language, and memories affect one’s relationship with the natural world are recurring themes in their practice.
Caitlin Lorraine Johnson is a writer based in New Mexico. Her work has appeared in BOMB, Southwest Contemporary, Des Pair Quarterly, Artist Field, and elsewhere. She has also contributed exhibition texts for The Valley, Night Gallery, and Albertz Benda. Her books IO and Taliesin are available from Economy Press.
Ruby Rosi is a visual artist and writer based in Athens, Greece. By day, they work as a graphic designer and photographer; by night, they write under their pen name. Their work explores myth, memory, and the weight of inheritance.
Manami Eguchi is an artist and researcher working through photography and writing. Her practice primarily explores cultural documentation, nature preservation, and mental health in relation to the socio-political context. Through her practice, she observes, archives and reflects on the society we live in.
